Monday, May 6

Vissel beat Gamba today. That's really all that needs to be said! But for those of you interested, I'll say a little more.23,012 people? Yes, that WAS the biggest ever attendance for a J2 match.The entire Scumba contingent were treated to a lesson in football, hospitality and manners. Endo who? Ha! Estiven is the name you're after. Control your midfield, distribute your passes coolly under pressure and don't spit your dummy in the 77th minute with a cynical foul! National team my ass!Leandro. Too good for Kobe? Too good for Japan? Back again? Still too good for Kobe? Well FUCK YOU. You were shite for the whole game. And you didn't even generate half the Bando-like hatred we have for traitors because we were too busy playing all over you. TWAT.It's just football you say? Yes, maybe. But beating Gamba means EVERYTHING. I live for this moment, this match, this day, this season.I've kept really quite, but I'll tell you something. They went down in my estimation when they chanted over Kobe Sanka. We have not resorted to that. But I'll tell ya, you can tell 'em now, they'll be reading this. We're fighting for this title, and they've gotta go to Fukuoka and get something, and I'll tell ya, honestly, I WILL LUV IT IF WE BEAT THEM (away), LUV IT!!!

Sunday, April 28

This has to go down as one of our worst draws ever.
Completely dominated the game for 84 minutes against decent opposition. 3-0 up before the half-time break, and a 4th and 5th goal was looking more likely than not. Okayama made some good subs with 10 minutes to go..... and Adachi made a bad one. They were clearly gaining momentum and all we had to do was strengthen the defense and ride out the last few minutes. Instead Adachi brings on Tokura for Tashiro, a bizarre decision, then we lose Soma to injury leaving us with 10 men for the final minutes.
A draw has never felt this bad.

Sunday, April 21

Today's victory away at Yokohama F.C. was, for me, one of our better wins this season. From a neutral standpoint, this would have been a match to forget, but as someone who has seen us so many times in the past unable to hold it together under tough conditions away, especially against a team who despite their lack of natural talent made it difficult for us to play the passing game we have so far this season, this was a hard earned victory that showcased the resilience Adachi has instilled throughout the team.
Highlights from a La Famiglia perspective were seeing Mazinho playing on both sides of the pitch which clearly caused Yokohama problems in terms of marking, Komoto's cameo as a defensive MF for the final 10 minutes, and of course Yoshida's match winner in the 83rd minute to snatch the 3 points.
Popo scored his 5th goal of the campaign just after half time, neatly evading his marker with an exquisite first touch from a Sugiura through ball. The finish was the easy part. Yokohama grabbed their equalizer against the run of play when Lee failed to deal with a corner giving his Korean counterpart a free header into the net. However, a closer look at the replay will show you that it was Yoshida that let the play run into space, making Lee who was rightly facing the corner taker look guilty. Yoshida made amends less than 10 minutes later when he headed home a long Soma cross from the left to secure the points we rightly earned. Kudos for Yoshida for being in precisely the right spot, but Soma's cross was simply immaculate. Why his two markers failed to jump at all is a mystery.
Two more warm-up games left for Gamba. Hurry up Estiven.

Wednesday, April 17

They say the sign of a championship winning team is one that can grind out wins despite below par performances. Well, if that's true, they might as well just hand us the trophy now. To paint a picture of the opposition tonight would be difficult without sounding contumelious. This is the kind of team we should be beating 4-0. Had we played like we did against Matsumoto, it could've been 8-0.
But we didn't. We lacked the flare down the wings that we had shown in previous outings this season and we got away with a multitude of mistakes in the midfield simply because the opposition wasn't that good. But the most concerning aspect of our lackluster performance was the constant passing the ball backwards, conservative (at times negative) football that was hard to watch. The lack of response from the bench leads me to believe that these were instructions being followed.
Popo was in a foul mood, clearly frustrated by the fact that his teammates do not possess his skill or vision, throwing his arms up in the air and kicking water bottles. These are the kind of antics you would expect from a young star playing on a losing team, not a veteran playing on a winning one.
All that said, we got the job done, in the ugliest of ways. But we need Estiven back sooner rather than later, because Gamba will crush us if we play like that in 2 weeks.